I have a 96 Max automatic with 109k miles. I bought the car when it was almost two years old, and it had 20k miles. I have done all of the factory recommended services. I change my oil every 3k miles and have been using Mobil 1 synthetic from 42k until now. I previously had not encountered any problems with the car.

I replaced the fuel filter last weekend, and the knock sensor the day before this incident. The reason I replaced the knock sensor is because the car was feeling sluggish so I checked my ECU and this code came up. I reset my ECU several times, but the code kept coming back so I put in a new KS. This was the only code the ECU threw at me. I am very thankful to this site, the dealer wanted $610 dollars just for the labor, and $164 dollars for the KS plus tax. With the advice from the good folks on this site and the help of my 9 year old son I was able to replace the knock sensor. I am appreciating my intake and y-pipe combination a little more now.

Yesterday I was merging from one freeway onto another. As I was merging I floored the gas pedal, and the car responded nicely, for just a second though. All of a sudden the engines power was very low. I was going up a hill and the car seemed like it was not going to make it. I could not get it passed 3,000 RPM's or so, maybe a little less. There was quite a bit of traffic so I wanted to keep my eyes on the road. I had my gas pedal all the way down to the floor. I released the gas pedal and floored it again with the same results. It did not want to down shift when I floored it. I emmediately exited the freeway and into city streets, luckily I was only one exit from my house. The same problem was there when I was off the freeway. Since I was off the freeway and not going fast at all, I shifted the car into 2nd gear and back up to drive. After doing this the car responded as it should. I have not had any other incidents the rest of yesterday or today. I checked the ECU as soon as I arrived at my house and it gave me 0505. So I have no clue to why this happened. Could it be the transmission? I checked the transmission oil level today and it looks fine. I had the car on and ran it through all the gears before I checked it. Any help or guidence will be greatly appreciated. I was on my way home from a nice 150 mile trip when this happened.

 

Hmmm, not get above 3000 rpms?? Mass airflow sensor? Could it have been damaged? Maybe you accidentally disturbed the wires for the MAF. Try unplugging it and plugging it back in again. If that doesn't work, try cleaning it. Only use electriacl parts cleaner. Get it at radio shack. Take your MAF apart and blast the honeycomb mesh thingy with the parts cleaner and put it all back together.

DW

 

well i dont understand the total of your thread but here my opinion. If you have problems with shift, on the 1,2, d gear, and has no codes, if very possible that the problem is the tranny. I have problem with it one month ago, and my ecu didnt pull me any code. After some days my mechanic and me discover that the problem was the 5 solenoid, that mean, shift clutch, that makes the tranny to make the changes...my max has 130,000 miles, if you go to the consumerguide.com and see the problems of our cars they say this: Automatic transmission: The original automatic transmission (model F04) shift solenoids allowed slipping and premature wear. (1997)

 

Thanks for the replies. I will clean my MAF and its connectors. I am also going to look into the selenoid problem. I have been driving all day today with no problems. I've been pushing the Max a little today to see if the symptom returned, but everything is fine (at least for now).